Heart Like Mine (Reapers MC: Conroe Chapter, #3) Read online

  That’s why we practice every night. If the law gets involved, he needs to explain in dramatic fashion why he doesn’t want to live with his dad or else no one will care.

  “People are selfish,” I tell Rebel every day. “That’s why it’s okay for you to be selfish too. Worry about yourself, not your dad’s feelings. It’s okay if your grandma cries and says she misses you. They want you because it makes them happy. It’s your job to make yourself happy.”

  That’s probably bad parenting, but I don’t care. I was too young when I had him. Learning how to change diapers and feed him right was easy. That’s just like school learning. Knowing how to discipline him or teach him right from wrong is more about common sense.

  “Don’t be a bully,” I say. “Your dad is a bully. Your uncle is a bully. Your aunt is a bully. Your grandma is a bully. When you think about what you don’t like about them, it’s that they’re bullies. Don’t be like that, but don’t let anyone push you around either.”

  Rebel always frowns at me when I say that stuff. How can he know when he's a bully versus standing up for himself?

  “You’re smart about people,” I explain, trying to make him understand. “You’re good at telling what’s right and wrong. You’ll know.”

  Whether Rebel understands or not, he sleeps so much easier than when we had a real house and full bellies. Life with Patrick offered many luxuries we can’t afford now, but we lived with a constant sense of dread. Now we’re free.

  I rub my stomach where the baby kicks again. My mind returns to the night when I did something stupid. I don’t regret sex with Jack Jay. He was too handsome to be real, and a little part of me believed he was just a really vivid dream.

  I woke up the next day, certain I’d fantasized about the handsome uncle from the movie theater. No way did I go to a trashy honkytonk and hookup with a tattooed Adonis. That shit doesn’t happen in real life and especially not to someone like me.

  I remained certain that night was a dream until I looked at the positive pregnancy test. By then, I’d ditched my old phone and was on the run again.

  Donny Perdue ruined what was looking to be a fresh start for Rebel and me. He and his wife, Vicki, showed up at the Beetle Bug Nostalgia Theater where I was working concessions. I loved that job. People were so happy when they went to the movies, and the theater has a retro design. On my days off, the manager let me bring Rebel to watch the old movies for free. We were living in a basement apartment in the home of an older couple. Rebel liked their yard, and we helped Leticia garden on the weekends.

  Then Vicki and Donny showed up to watch “The Princess Bride.” I hadn’t noticed the middle-aged couple on their way in, but she came to talk to me during the movie while I swept around the concession stand.

  I looked up from my daydreaming to find her worried face.

  “Donny told Sean he saw you. I thought you should know in case you didn’t want anyone finding you.”

  Vicki and Donny lived five houses from mine in Milkweed. It was common knowledge that my husband smacked me around. Donny probably hits Vicki too. Men in Milkweed don’t even have to pretend to behave because they’re protected by the cops. In fact, Sean Hegseth is likely the future sheriff.

  I never had a chance to thank Vicki for the warning. She hurried away, likely worried about Donny punishing her for helping the enemy.

  When I told my manager I had to quit, he didn’t ask questions. I tried not to cry, but I loved that job. He said I could still bring Rebel around if I needed to. That was the only signal that he understood my situation.

  Even loving the theater, I didn’t dare return. The Hegseth family would be watching it now. I felt them closing in on Rebel and me.

  Every morning, I wake up wondering if I’ll lose my son today. Rebel worries, too, but he always stays positive. I think he believes constantly smiling will keep the baby alive. He remembers all too well how things changed after his unborn brother died.

  “Would you rather have Thor’s hammer or Captain America’s shield?” I ask Rebel as we clean up in a convenience store restroom.

  My son loves superheroes, but we had to leave behind most of his comic book collection when we ran.

  “The shield,” he says after a minute of wiping his pits with a damp paper towel.

  “Why?”

  “You can hide behind it, and you can hurt people with it.”

  “That’s smart,” I mumble, having thought the hammer was better.

  With all my heart, I believe Rebel will be okay without me. I just want a little more time together before the law snatches him away.

  I peek out of the Go-Stop’s single-stall restroom before opening the door completely. There are a handful of customers in the main area. When we first entered, I noticed the cashier watching us like a hawk. We casually walked around the store until she got distracted by a customer. Then we hurried into the bathroom.

  With the SUV running on fumes, we can’t drive much, and I’m running out of restrooms to use. If the clerks here get suspicious, I might have to check this place off my list.

  “Hey!” a woman cries out, and I assume it’s directed at us.

  Rebel freezes behind me.

  “Just walk straight out,” I whisper while taking his hand. “Don’t stop. Don’t talk to anyone.”

  We hurry through the chip aisle, and I think we’re home free until I hear a familiar voice.

  “Rebel, baby,” my sister-in-law calls out from the front counter. “It’s okay, honey.”

  Ignoring Ainsley, I try to keep walking, but a woman steps in front of me. Vaguely recognizing her, I’m not sure if she’s a local or someone from Milkweed.

  “The whore’s with child!” the woman cries in horror.

  Backing away, I keep Rebel behind me as I scan the store for another exit. The back door will likely set off the alarm. That might be our best route. An alarm might alert the police, and the law could prevent Ainsley from grabbing Rebel. Not that my boy will go quietly.

  “Georgia, you know this needs to end,” Ainsley says, approaching us. She shakes out her blonde hair, always flawless because her entire day revolves around her looks. Not that I blame her. Sean didn’t marry Ainsley for her personality, that’s for sure.

  “Get out of my way,” I say when I realize the bitch from the door has circled around and blocked our exit.

  “Mom,” Rebel whispers.

  “Scream,” I whisper back. “Make so much noise that the police will come.”

  Rebel’s first yell is timid, unsure. I let out a blood-curdling scream that any horror movie final girl would applaud. Emboldened by my cries, Rebel starts yelling.

  “911! Call 911!” he yelps like a siren. “Child molester! Pervert! Rape! Fire! Call 911! Terrorist!”

  I couldn’t be prouder of Rebel if he aced every test and was a star athlete. That’s normal people stuff, but my boy is making a scene like a pro.

  The entire store freaks out. People run out, and others from outside peer through the windows to see what’s happening. I hear the now-nervous clerk telling us to leave.

  I slide off my backpack and place it protectively in front of my stomach.

  Ainsley blocks my path to the door. Holding my gaze, she has no intention of moving. If I wasn’t pregnant, I’d bulldoze the bitch. Instead, I remain with Rebel and wait for the police.

  “Let me go!” Rebel screams when Ainsley’s friend grabs him from behind.

  Without thinking, I swing around and nail the bitch with my backpack. It barely makes contact, but she’s startled enough to flop down on her ass.

  Rebel scurries away from the woman, but now Ainsley is rushing at us.

  “Mom!” he cries, and I swing around to keep her back.

  “Leave us alone!” I yell full of fury, but I’m mostly just scared, and I have to pee again.

  Ainsley looks at her friend getting back to her feet.

  “Let’s run,” Rebel whispers.

  Using the backpack as protection f
or my stomach, I hold Ainsley’s gaze and just start walking toward her. I hope she moves out of my way, but why would anything go smoothly for me?

  Sean’s stupid wife panics and swings her purse, which must be filled with lead. When it slams into my face, I feel as if Patrick punched me. I’m on the floor almost instantly. My right eyebrow burns and I cover my throbbing eye.

  “Pervert!” Rebel screams and throws something at Ainsley. “Terrorist! Call 911!”

  Ainsley reaches for him, and I try to regain my footing. Her friend shoves me back down. They’re going to take my boy!

  “No!” I scream, shaking with rage. I feel myself losing control. The resentment from all those years rises in me. I’ve been pushed around and taking shit from everyone. Now they’ll hurt Rebel again. Enraged, I want to fuck up someone. No, I want to watch Ainsley beg.

  More than anything, though, I want Rebel safe and for my baby to live.

  But I’m failing like I always do. I’m too weak. Too stupid. Too useless. I can’t do anything right.

  As Ainsley yanks my boy off the ground, he reaches for me. Everything is sped up, yet in slow motion. I can’t think straight. I might be screaming. I think Rebel is too, but it’s all madness in my throbbing head.

  Then Ainsley lets go of Rebel and falls down on the ground twitching. Her friend backs away from me, and Rebel returns to my side.

  “The baby’s going to die!” he wails, sobbing against me. I feel his hand on my stomach as my arms wrap around his trembling body. He’s so scared, and I can’t think straight. But I don’t think I landed hard on the ground.

  “Make it stop,” I beg God. “Make everything okay.”

  “Don’t cry,” a thickly accented voice says, and I open my eyes to find one of the blonde women from that hooker motel. She kneels in front of me and shushes my whimpers as if I’m a child. “We leave now. Yes, you come with us.”

  I can’t remember her name, or maybe I never learned it. We only stayed there a few times and never for long. I remember a lot of pretty blonde women lived in the motel on the edge of Conroe.

  Another one kneels next to me. “We do the electric thing to her. You come with us. No police.”

  I’m so tired, and I don’t want to move. Then I feel the baby kick, and Rebel must feel it too. He lifts his face from my shoulder and looks me in the eyes.

  “I think they tasered Ainsley,” I whisper to my son.

  The panic in his blue eyes fades, and then he lets out a roaring laugh. He cranes his neck to look around the women in front of us, so he can see Ainsley on the ground. His laughter increases. Rebel sounds hysterical as I stand and walk him past his crying aunt.

  I don’t know what’s happening in the store anymore. People are talking so much, and Ainsley’s sobs are so loud. We walk past her, and I can barely focus with my pounding head.

  But I notice the pool of pee between her perfect legs. If nothing good ever happens in my life again, I will forever relish the day a prostitute tasered my stuck-up sister-in-law and made her piss herself.

  The women direct us to a Hardee’s across the street. I consider thanking them and taking off before Ainsley calls for reinforcements. I don’t know where her friend went, and Sean might be on his way.

  But I’m too tired to run, and my head hurts so much. Besides, it’s been so long since I had another adult to handle a problem. I decide to let them do the thinking for a little bit.

  “What language is that?” Rebel asks one of the women.

  “Ukrainian,” she says. “I am Talia. I get help.”

  “Help?” I ask, eyeing the restaurant’s restrooms.

  “We get help,” Talia says while the other woman talks on the phone.

  “I need to pee again.”

  Rebel smiles at my words. He thinks the peeing thing is hilarious. I wish I could smile as easily as he does right now, but I’m afraid of what happens next.

  Are the police coming? Will Sean show up with his badge and take Rebel? As amazing as it was for Ainsley to end up on the ground, tasering Sean won’t be an option.

  “We might have to run,” I tell Rebel in the restroom. “If they grab me, you run away.”

  “No.”

  “I can’t protect you, and no one called the cops even with all the yelling we did.”

  “They might still come.”

  “Ainsley definitely called your uncle before she came after us. They might have been watching us for hours without us noticing. If Sean comes, you have to run.”

  Emboldened from watching his aunt get taken down, Rebel lifts his chin defiantly and says, “I want to stay with you.”

  Sighing, I wrap him in my arms. I can’t think of what to do. For months, I’ve felt Patrick’s family closing in on us. We’ve been without a place to live, and the money’s almost gone. Rebel needs to eat more and sleep better. I can’t give him anything.

  “Ainsley peed,” he says, giggling.

  I laugh too. “She’s such a stupid princess.”

  Rebel washes his face, but there's no hiding how he’s been crying. I try to clean myself up. I’ll probably have a shiner soon, but there's no blood and the baby kicks as usual.

  “Whatever happens, we’ll do our best,” I tell Rebel, and he nods.

  Again, I peek out of the restroom and spot the two prostitutes where we left them. One still speaks on the phone, the other looks out the windows.

  Catching sight of me, the blonde on the phone gestures for us to come closer. “You were at motel before, yes?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’m Katya.”

  “I’m Georgia. This is Rebel.”

  “Do you not have a home?” When I frown at her wording, she says, “People says a woman and boy live in car, but I not sure you are them.”

  “Yes,” I say and try to focus my brain. “Thank you for helping us, but we can’t stay here. You tasered Rebel’s aunt, and her husband is a cop in another town. If he comes here, he’ll cause trouble.”

  “No trouble,” Katya says and looks down at my stomach. “You need rest. You sit down.”

  “We need to go.”

  “Are you hungry?”

  Rebel immediately nods. He’s transfixed by the women who made his aunt piss herself. I don’t blame him.

  “You sit and wait. Friends coming to help.”

  “But his uncle will be here.”

  “Don’t fear. You sit and eat.”

  “Mom,” Rebel says, nodding at me. “Your eye is messed up. You can rest.”

  “We don’t have money for food,” I say, uneasy now. I scan the road outside the restaurant. “We’re not safe.”

  Katya nods at Talia, and they gesture for me to sit. I’m so used to being bullied that I obey without thinking. Patrick trained me so well that even smiling women can make me submit.

  Rebel walks with Katya to the front counter where they talk about food. He says something about how I’m going to have a baby, and I throw up sometimes. I smile at how quickly he trusts the women. I want to trust them too, but I’m afraid to let down my guard. No one ever takes care of us, and I can’t imagine strangers will.

  Talia makes small talk with me. Between her broken English and my headache, I’m having trouble following along with what she’s saying. I mainly nod and smile. She tells me that she tasered a man at the motel before.

  “Fun to make bad people shake.”

  Her words inspire giggles, and I can’t seem to stop until Rebel arrives with a tray of food.

  “I got a barbecue burger,” he proudly announces.

  I think to warn him about how eating that heavy food and shitting outside might not be a great match. Admiring his pleased smile, I keep my mouth shut. Who knows what the rest of his day will be like? Why not let him eat his damn burger?

  Rebel ordered me a salad because he says the baby needs more vitamins. I feel the fear and sadness rise in me, but I don’t let myself cry. There’s no time to be weak. I need to remain alert.

  I can’t s
ee the gas station well from the restaurant. I have no idea if Ainsley is still there. I am certain the only police car is from the local Conroe Sheriff’s Department.

  The women don’t seem worried. They’re waiting for someone, though. Keeping my mouth shut, I eat the salad and watch Rebel devour his burger. Every minute or so, I glance outside to where the world doesn’t seem any different than usual.

  It’s as if a child and a pregnant woman hadn’t just made a scene, and a bitch didn’t get tasered. Conroe is a weird little town where people mind their business. It’s why I liked hiding here. Now I’m worried the weird part might be my undoing.

  I flinch at the sight of a line of cars and motorcycles speeding into the restaurant parking lot.

  “No worry,” Talia says and smiles.

  I lose my appetite at the sight of the large tattooed men standing outside now. Katya joins them and talks to a pregnant blonde woman carrying a toddler. I’m far less scared at the sight of them, but the men terrify me. I don’t want to owe anyone anything.

  Another blonde woman arrives and joins the conversation. When they all look toward us inside, I immediately want to grab Rebel and run.

  I don’t, of course. The longer I sit here, the more my head hurts, and the deeper my fatigue infects.

  “Georgia,” Katya says, suddenly next to me. “These are friends. You go with them.”

  I don’t know what to do. Rebel keeps eating as if nothing is wrong in the entire world. Across the road, I see a familiar car pull into the gas station.

  “They’re going to take my son away,” I blurt out.

  The pregnant woman steps closer. Her dark brown eyes hold both an eerie calm and a relaxing determination. “Come with us, and we’ll figure everything out.”

  I’m so desperate for someone else to be in charge that I only nod. Rebel asks if we can take the rest of our food, and Katya helps him bag up what’s left. I stand there, drowning in fatigue and fear. I can’t do this anymore.

  Sean is across the street. He’s found us. We can’t hide any longer. Patrick’s family will steal Rebel.

  My only option is to go with these strangers and hope they aren’t worse than the people I’m running from.

  Rebel sits next to me in the backseat of a black SUV. Unafraid, he talks about how his stomach is really full. I nod at everything he says. My boy is so relaxed, and I want to believe he senses something I can’t. But he’s a child, not a fortune-teller. He doesn’t know what’ll happen.